Before I take Upholstery Apart
 

My bow light went out on me this weekend. What I thought was going to be a 5 minute job now seems like it is going to take a little longer. After unscrewing the two screws it was impossible to get the light to come up far enough to remove the bulbs. In the process of bearing down on it I pulled the wires out of the insulation.

SOOOOO now my question is can I access the bow wiring through the front mirror of the cabin? I need some more wire before I can reattach.

Also, I am probably going to replace with LED. Anyone have any suggestions?

assuming my 91 is the same as your 97, which its not like fountaion changes anything throughout the decade. Anyways take the mirror off and its right there. should be enough room to do what you want.

+1 behind the mirror. Of if you have an anchor like mine it is in there.


This is what I used for a replacement http://www.amazon.com/Attwood-2-Mile...igation+lights

A little smaller than the stock perko, but not by much. You will want to wet sand and buff where the old one was so the lines do not show, however it is pretty close to covering them.

can you just replace with LED in the perko?

thats a great question. Do they make an led bulb that fits the Perko?

Anyone know?

I know they make LED florescent replacement for the cabin. THey are a little pricey but i think I am going to make that a "winter" project when I don't have to spend money on a FUEL bill. lol

Yes, but the bulb is the price of a new light :D

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...LED&searchBtn=

http://www.superbrightleds.com/ , Here you can cross your stock bulb # and get a LED replacement. I changed all my fastoon bulbs with LEDs in the cockpit of a Cig I just sold. Looked great and cheap enough. Good Luck

thanks

did a quick search and half the price here

http://www.seaboundsupply.com/dr-led...ulb-green.html

Buy you a 16' roll of LED strip lighting and use that for your florescents. Just remove the ballist and guts, cut the strip to lenght needed and solder wires on the ends to connect to the existing wiring and stick it inside the housing. $20 will do all your florescents with plenty left over. Plus will not have any current draw on your battery.


I replaced all my bulbs in the cruiser with LEDS purchased thru Marinebeam.

with every light on now, I draw less current than a single incendescent bulb did.

That is awsome advise. So you would do that rather than buying the bulbs?

Definitly doing the same thing this winter to mine. Has anyone used those LED Drain Plug Lights for underwater use?

I just ordered two for mine. I have always wanted underwater lights but the thought of drilling my transom has caused me to refrain.

I would replace the florescent tube lights with the strip lighting just for the cost savings and it's really an easy conversion for those DIY'r wanting to save some $$. Regular bulbs will have to be replaced with the LED replacement bulbs. Quality ones will add up quickly. I have over $300 converting all my cockpit, nav, and cabin bulbs to the replacement LED bulbs. I also prefer the whiteness of the LEDS. Much brighter and cleaner.

I installed a blue drain plug light for same reason as you, no holes required and inexpensive. Was ok. nothing to brag about though. It would light up (a blue tint more than lighting it up) the water a foot behind boat directly inline with the drain plug. I removed it a couple weeks later.

I had 6' of strip lighting left over from a speaker project I did this spring, so for chits and grins, I stuck it up on the underneath side of my swim platform with the double sided tape, and ran the wire thru one of my cockpit drain thru hulls. If it didn't work, I'd peel it off and pull the wire out with no holes.
This lit up the water more than the drain plug, and along the full back. 1st pic. Looks awesome when idling around at night. Several of us have done this now all with excellant results. With all our boats backed into our slips at night, we lite up the dock. A $20 16' roll of LED strip lights goes along way w/o the worry of high cost or permanent mounting.